13 November 2020 - Diwali celebrations in the UK move online
Diwali celebrations 'will be difficult', says Rishi Sunak
(BBC News, 12/11/2020)
Chancellor Rishi Sunak says celebrating Diwali this year will be difficult but has urged others also marking the event to stick to lockdown restrictions. Mr Sunak, a practising Hindu, encouraged families to meet up virtually this weekend, adding: "We're going to get through this."
Outdoor celebrations around the UK have been called off due to the pandemic. With a nationwide lockdown in place in England, many councils are providing online Diwali celebrations on Saturday.
Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated across the world by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, who traditionally illuminate their homes with candles and lanterns.
Diwali is India’s most important holiday—and a celebration of good over evil
Amy McKeever (National Geographic, 12/11/2020)
Diwali is India’s most important festival of the year—a time to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil. Widely observed among more than a billion people from a variety of faiths across India and its diaspora, the five days of Diwali are marked by prayer, feasts, fireworks, family gatherings, and charitable giving. For some, Diwali is also the beginning of a new year.
But Diwali is perhaps best known as a festival of lights. Derived from the Sanskrit dipavali, which means “row of lights,” Diwali is known for the brightly burning clay lamps that celebrants line up outside their homes.
Diwali celebrations move online to beat coronavirus restrictions
Press Association 2020 (The Sutton and Croydon Guardian, 12/11/2020)
The festival of Diwali is being marked virtually across the UK as coronavirus restrictions keep many from celebrating in person with their loved ones.
With a nationwide lockdown being put in place in England to halt the spread of Covid-19, many councils have looked online to provide Diwali celebrations on Saturday.
Leicester City Council is asking revellers to send in video messages to be featured in its entertainment, while the West Midlands Combined Authority and Indian Consulate will be hosting an online event called Diwali on the Screen.
When does Diwali end? Timetable for Diwali 2020
Liam Doyle (The Daily Express, 12/11/2020)
Hindus around the world will celebrate Diwali this weekend, one of the most significant religious festivals of the year. Mid-November will see some spectacular displays during an especially dark time for the world, as the Festival of Lights celebrates the victory of good over evil. Diwali's timetable is not cemented in place like other religious festivals and tends to move around the calendar.